The looks on the faces of El Segundo’s boys volleyball team said it all.

After letting Downey win what could have been a match-clinching third game, El Segundo was mad.

The Eagles took it out on Downey in the fourth and final game, opening up with an early nine-point lead and refusing to let up en route to a 25-20, 25-16, 19-25, 25-19 win over visiting Downey in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs.

“We were so fired up after winning the first two games and we let up a bit in the third,” said El Segundo’s Hunter Hovland, who had 16 kills. “I loved how we came out in the last game and took control though.”

El Segundo (17-4) will host Bishop Montgomery in a semifinal on Tuesday night.

The fact that Downey knocked El Segundo out of the playoffs last year made the win that much sweeter. Downey scored a 3-1 win over the Eagles in the first round of last season’s playoffs before going on to win the Division IV championship.

Emotions ran high throughout much of Saturday’s contest, and after Hovland’s forceful match-ending spike to give El Segundo the win, the two team’s briefly jawed back and forth at the net before coaches from both sides separated them.

The tension began mounting before the match began, when during warmups, each team seemed to be purposely spiking the ball toward the sideline of the opponent.

El Segundo co-coach Tim Hovland said it was just par for the course for Downey.

“They are kind of professional talkers,” Tim Hovland said. “They did the same thing last year. We wanted our guys to let their play do the talking and then celebrate on their own sideline. We didn’t want to get caught up in all that stuff.”

El Segundo certainly did let its play speak for itself early on. After eight lead changes early in the first game, El Segundo took control and carried that momentum through to a dominant performance in the second game.

It was in the third game when things were thrown off a bit. The Eagles were unable to close the door and lost their chance for a sweep when Downey went on a 10-2 run to build an eight-point lead midway through the match.

“This is a game that takes a lot of patience and Downey played inspired in that third game, and I think it took us out of our rhythm,” El Segundo co-coach Edward Bacil said. “We started panicking and they took advantage of it but we got it back together at the end.”

Romano said it was just a matter of regaining confidence. El Segundo jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the final game and led the entire way.

“We kind of hung our heads in that third game and didn’t play very well,” he said. “We knew we were better than them. It was just about being consistent and showing it.”

The start of the match was delayed nearly an hour because the referees didn’t show up on time. Bacil said Downey requested to move the match up two hours from its normal 7p.m. start because its school prom was taking place Saturday night, but some of the referees were apparently not informed of the change.

“I think all of the sitting and waiting around just added to the tension for both teams,” Bacil said.